September 13th, 2009

Kibbeh Labniyeh means Kibbeh cooked in yogurt sauce.

Let’s make kibbeh labniyeh:

Before talking about the method of cooking Kibbeh Labniyeh, I’ll tell you some information about the yogurt itself.

In Syria, we have special yogurt we name it “Laban Arabi” which is made from sheep milk, and we have “Laban Baqari” which is made from cow milk. In cooking, we use only “Laban Arabi” which is from sheep milk. If you want to cook Labniyeh, and you have yogurt made from cow milk so this yogurt is not from sheep milk i,e not “Laban Arabi”, Please see what will happen during cooking ! Look at these pictures (A, B and C) and read carefully.

A. This yogurt is not “Laban Arabi”, when you add it to the pot and turn on heat, and stir it, it curdles and this is not good for making the yogurt sauce “Labniyeh”.

B. This is the same yogurt I used in “A”, but here combine yogurt + cornflour (cornstarch), then turn on heat and stir, so it doesn’t curdle, and that’s what we want for cooking “Labniyeh”.

C. This is “Laban Arabi”, In the pot there is only “Laban Arabi”. Turn on heat and stir, the result that it doesn’t curdle and that’s what we want for cooking “Labniyeh”.

The conclusion:

If you use “Laban Arabi” which is from sheep milk, you don’t need the cornflour (cornstarch), or any other thing, the yogurt itself is perfect for cooking.

If you use other type of yogurt, you need to add cornflour (cornstarch) to prevent curdling. In picture “B”, I used 3/4 cup yogurt + 1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch).

Now, Let’s make Kibbeh Labniyeh:

Kibbeh:

Dough

1. Prepare fine bulgur wheat, rinse it in several changes of water, then squeeze out all water completely, then add to it ground sweet paprika and salt, and set aside in the fridge for about two hours.

2. After two hours, attach the fine holed plate to the meat grinder.

3. To the grinder, add bulgur, and onion quarters, and grind.

4. To the ground mixture of bulgur and onion, add ground meat, then grind the mixture of bulgur, onion and ground meat.

5, 6. Knead the dough with your hand.

7. Keep kneading (you can add water until you feel you can shape the dough).

20. Dough is ready, it is time to shape Kibbeh. (Tipalways keep with you a bowl of water with some salt dissolved in to wet your hands while shaping Kibbeh).

21. Above: two pictures of shaping steps, this final shape is called Saiyah . Always keep wet cloth covers the finished Saiyah. In the post Kibbeh Maqliyeh, we made “Saiyah” and “Aqras”, but in kibbeh Labniyeh we only need “Saiyah”.

22, 23. Everything is ready, you can see the wet cloth.

24, 25. Fry it until light golden in color as in the picture. (In the post , kibbeh was fried until golden brown in color, but for kibbeh Labniyeh we fry it until light golden in color only). The number of Saiyah (kibbeh) that will be added to Labniyeh are 25 Saiyah.

Labniyeh

26. Rinse rice with cold water in several changes, then boil water, and soak rice in boiled water for 10 minutes, then drain rice and rinse it with cold water in several changes and set aside.

27. Drain yogurt in a cloth to completely dry (this step must be done a day before).

Dough is ready, it is time to shape Kibbeh. (Tipalways keep with you a bowl of water with some salt dissolved in to wet your hands while shaping Kibbeh).

Above: two pictures of shaping steps, this final shape is called Saiyah. Always keep wet cloth covers the finished Saiyah. In the post Kibbeh Maqliyeh, we made “Saiyah” and “Aqras”, but in kibbeh Labniyeh we only need “Saiyah”.

Everything is ready, you can see the wet cloth.

Fry it until light golden in color as in the picture. (In Kibbeh Maqliyeh, we fry kibbeh until golden brown in color, but for kibbeh Labniyeh we fry it until light golden in color only). The number of Saiyah (kibbeh) that will be added to Labniyeh are 25 Saiyah

Labniyeh

Rinse rice with cold water in several changes, then boil water, and soak rice in boiled water for 10 minutes, then drain rice and rinse it with cold water in several changes and set aside.

Drain yogurt in a cloth to completely dry (this step must be done a day before).

In pot, add 4 cups drained yogurt (if you are not using Laban Arabi, you must add cornflour (cornstarch)). And keep stirring (use wooden spoon).

Once yogurt begins to simmer as in picture 30, you can see the bubbles, add water and salt to it.

Keep stirring.

Once yogurt begins to simmer, add rice to yogurt.

Check the rice, once is cooked as picture 34, add the kibbeh , and keep stirring only for 5 minutes, then turn off heat and serve immediately in bowls.

Garlic Coriander Taqliyeh – Optional

Melt ghee and bring to high heat.

Add crushed garlic.

Add finely chopped coriander leaves.

Then add this mixture on top of the kibbeh Labniyeh.

Notes and Tips

If you don’t have “Laban Arabi”, you have to add cornflour (cornstarch) to the yogurt to prevent curdling.

The measurments of kibbeh (dough and filling) is the same in the post “Kibbeh Maqliyeh”, because from these meaurments I made “Kibbeh Maqliyeh” and “Kibbeh Labniyeh” in the same day.

I took about 25 Saiyah and added them to the Labniyeh, and the rest of the kibbeh I made it as Fried Kibbeh.

I have a big quantity of yogurt about two kilograms, so I drain all the quantity of yogurt in a cloth to dry (the day before you plan to make Kibbeh Labniyeh, drain the yogurt), then after all the quantity drained well to dry, I measured 4 cups drained yogurt for cooking Labniyeh).

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on Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 5:19 PM and is filed under Syrian Cooking.
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